Master, My Master
by Akanesi
Summary: All through their lives, the Doctor and the Master have always been together. "Your conscious mind is falling, awoken from its deep slumber by unimaginable terrors."


1st: You run from home, your new life stretching across the universe in a whirl wind of fallen tears and unshed worries; never diminishing your hope that one day you shall return; shall be recalled home. But you see a part of home only once: a visiting gesture coated in future tidings that you ignore. A friend he says, from the academy, a fallen soldier; an exile just like you. You see him tied and down trodden and don't understand why you would do this. Home means everything to you and you are so scared that one day you'll not feel the same.

Catch me, oh Master. I'm falling.

2nd: You see him again but this time he has changed. An earlier regeneration and an easier conscience. But even now it's not right, for he hunts you across a planet, far and wide, until all you want to do is sit down and scream because he was your friend and now he's a madman. You wish that this was all a dream and that you would wake up to find that your Master had not changed. But it wasn't to be and when you see him again with your fellows you thought of the nightmare of not caring for your home world and this man in front of you, who is still great even if he has nothing to call his own.

Except me Master. I'm yours. I'm always yours.

3rd: You know how powerful he is. You have been warned. But part of you believes that he is still Koshei, though you call him anything but. The name never passes over your new lips, though the name Master sounds stale upon them. Deep in your heart you know that this man you see before you is not your beloved Koshei but something new. You fear it, of course. It's only natural, but you also rejoice in it. You haven't changed. You still welcome a piece of home and you always look forward to the next visit, even if he doesn't.

Come to me, Master. I'm waiting.

4th: You see now what he is becoming. You start to live your nightmare, drawing away from him and your real home because you satisfy yourself that Romana is here. Though she is no Time Lord like you knew. No dusty books or rusty volumes. No weapons of leather or lips of steal. She could never be the same as the Master. But he is changing, and you are scared.

What are you, Master? Help me understand.

5th: You have grown accustomed to this new Koshei. You can still sit and talk with him and you've accepted that although people change, they can never become different. You tell your companions nothing and they treat him as the enemy, but when you're alone with him he never draws his weapon, never threatens you, only talks. A little bit of the old Koshei has returned and you are happy, if only for a time.

You are a comfort, Master. Make it last.

6th: The Rani has always polluted the Master's mind. Always pulled him away. Though he saved your life today and you wish you could express how grateful you are. That he could help you so utterly selflessly. But he was torn up with the Rani and she always wins. He won't come to you when she is here. He never does.

I'm empty, Master. You're everything.

7th: The Master fears you in this regeneration. You're more powerful than he is. You rely on your brain more than ever. The only time you come up against him is when he's not in his right mind. When he gets taken over by the Cheetahs, you offer your help but he refuses. He turns you aside for the first time in both your lives, and you fall. He doesn't help you up.

Master! Master! Come back.

8th: Your conscious mind is falling, awoken from its deep slumber by unimaginable terrors, kept in chains by beasts of untold power and feld in your last breath by your Master, called upon in the time of need, to awaken you fully, pull you out of your nightmare and realign you.

Heal me, Master. Make me see.

9th: This regeneration is alone. No Eye lights up the blackness of your mind. No comforting push at the edge of your consciousness. No reassuring sight of the Master. No battle with your sworn enemy and secret friend. All is quiet, all is still. The deadly night does not answer your pleas. They are gone. You are empty. He is no more.

I am dead, Master. Understand: I need you.

10th: It tears you apart to see him like this. So completely broken that he would turn on you and try to kill you. To actually kill one of your companions, immortal or not; to murder the people of earth; to turn humans into slaves and to hurt all those around him. No, you know that this is not the Master. This is some fool, some mockery of the once great man. You would rather have him dead than be this walking joke, a mad man. Rather burning in the pits of hell then become what he swore he would never be. A blind murderer: built on hate and despair.

But still he is the one you call out to when you are alone and scared. When you are about to die, or when you want to kill. He is the one you get comfort from when there is no one there. The Master will never die, not while you live. He will always answer you.

"Master, my Master!"


End file.
